Blue Print, the internationally renowned aftermarket specialist, and ‘Complete Solution for Asian & American Vehicle Parts’ is celebrating its 20th anniversary.
The company behind the brand, Automotive Distributors Ltd (ADL) was formed in 1988 and four years later relocated to its current facility in Kent, England. Just two years later the Blue Print brand was launched in the UK, making its first appearance at the 1994 Automotive Trade Show held at the National Exhibition Centre in Birmingham.
20 years ago Japanese and Korean vehicles only represented a very small percentage of vehicles on the roads. The Blue Print philosophy was to cater for these vehicle Marques by providing everything under one roof, underpinned with an absolute dedication to accuracy, quality and outstanding customer service, which led to the creation of the company motto ‘Right First Time’. In 20 years, this philosophy and mantra are stronger than ever, which is a clear reason why ADL has been awarded the UK’s IAAF ‘Supplier of the Year’ award 8 times, which is twice as many as the closest competitor.
Over the last two decades the company has constantly innovated and invested to ensure that Blue Print is the first choice for parts for Asian & American vehicles. In 2004 the Blue Print catalogue was launched in an entirely new format, which departed from the traditional product led approach and enabled customers to see everything available for one vehicle on one page. Less than a year later, this new format was developed into an online cataloguing and technical reference system – Blue Print LIVE – which is renowned as one of the fastest, easiest to use and most accurate systems in the industry.
After the launch of a range of parts for European specification American vehicles in 2008, the Blue Print range started to include specialist parts and ranges, specific tools and technical information to support the fitment of particular products, and is a strategy that continues today. In addition to this, the Blue Print portfolio of products and services has expanded in some markets to include technical training, diagnostic equipment and online workshop information solutions, making Blue Print ‘The Complete Solution for Asian & American Vehicles’.
Already an international distributor, the acquisition of ADL and the Blue Print brand by Ferdinand Bilstein GmbH in 2011 opened the door to numerous markets across Europe and the world, and inevitably far greater international expansion – Blue Print is proudly a bilstein group brand, alongside sister brands febi and SWAG.
